Konkani Cuisine - Sanna Polo

There is an amazing group on facebook that shares Konkani cuisine.  This recipe is from the site. Perhaps the Sanna Polo can be described as a savoury pancake made with rice and lentils with chopped onions and cabbage.  Konkani cuisine without coconut is rare and this one is no exception.  Not the usual amount, but it is there nevertheless.  Though, it is a polo or a dosa, it is generally consumed as a side dish with rice and dalitoy ( konkani dal dish ).  Here chopped cabbage and onions have been added, but these can be substituted with greens, snake gourd seeds and what have you.  Arhar lentils can be replaced with another. Other spices may be added.  Experiment and enjoy the taste.

Ingredients:  Makes about 7-8 small polos

Rice - 1/2 cup
Tuvar Dal - ( split pigeon pea) - 1/2 cup
Grated coconut - a fistful
Roasted red chilies -few - spicier the better
Tamarind - 10 gms or half teaspoon of paste
Salt to taste.
Chopped cabbage - 1/4 cup
Chopped onion - 1/4 cup
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - for shallow frying

( Feel free to experiment with the above quantities and vary the ingredients)

Soak rice and dal for at least 3 hours
Grind with coconut, chilies, tamarind and salt to a thickish fine paste.  This is like an idli batter.

Add chopped onions, cabbage and a few shredded curry leaves.

Heat a flat pan.
Add the batter and spread with either a spoon or use your fingers to flatten it.
Pour oil along the polo/dosa
Allow it to brown on the underside.  Flip over and let the other side brown
Remove from pan.
Serve with hot rice and dalitoy.

While that may be a traditional way to eat the sanna polo, let me tell you it can be eaten at any time of the day.  Enjoy !

Coleslaw

This is essentially a salad that uses raw shredded cabbage.  Sometimes you are forced to buy a big sized cabbage.  And you use what you need for the curry.  Often a little leftover cabbage piece just sits at the back of your vegetable tray in the refrigerator and gets binned when discovered days later.  Before you come to that, chop into shreds and make a coleslaw.  If you do not want to eat it as a salad, just pop it between two buttered slices of bread and you will have a tasty sandwich.

Preparation:

Main ingredient - cabbage.  If you have the red one, use it .  Adds a lot of colour
Other veggies that you can use - carrots, salad greens, spring onions, radish, beetroot, fennel bulb.  You can decide.
I have cabbage, carrot, spring onions and some salad greens.  All should be cut in long strands/shreds

Other ingredients for the dressing - use according to amount of vegetables
Mayonnaise ( other alternatives - 50:50 mayo and yogurt, or yogurt alone )
Lime juice
Salt / sea salt
Pepper
Olive oil - a generous drizzle
Ground mustard

Mix dressing and vegetables.  Serve plain, in sandwiches, as an accompaniment to meats.
Enjoy !

Cabbage with Methi

Fenugreek leaves ( the bigger variety) is my current favourite. It is methi in every dish I make, at least once or twice a week. 

Cabbage - 200 gms shred fine -should be finer than what appears in the picture :-)
Fenugreek (methi) leaves - 1 bunch
Tomato purée - 2 - 3 tbsp ( or one medium sized tomato)
Onion - 1 - dice finely
Chilie powder - to taste
Garam masala powder - 1/4 tsp
Dhania (coriander) powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil for seasoning
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste.

Heat the oil for seasoning in a wok.
Add the mustard seeds. Allow it to splutter.
Add diced onion, sauté.
Add the chopped fenugreek leaves.
Sauté for a while.
Then the tomato purée,and the powders and salt.
Add a little water and allow the cabbage to cook.
Do not allow the cabbage to get too soft.

Tastes good with rotis.

Cabbage Sukke

I have been missing the Konkani food. And then I chanced upon this recipe in Vani's blog- Mysoorean. I made the recipe and it was so good.

Sukke in Konkani means dry, and this is meant to be a dry curry, but since I was serving it with rotis, I did retain a little gravy.

Ingredients:

Cabbage - 2 cups finely cut

Potato - 1 cup - diced

Tamarind - 1/2 tsp

Jaggery - 1 tbsp ( small piece - optional) but does add to the taste.

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Coconut - 50 gms - grated

Urad dal (Black gram dal) - 2 tsp

Red Chillies - 5-6 \nos

Coriander seeds (dhania) - 2 tsp

Fenugreek seeds (Methi) - 1/2 tsp

Oil

Salt to taste

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Asafoetida - pinch

Curry leaves - few.

Roast in a little oil - the urad dal, red chillies, coriander seeds and methi seeds.

Grind the roasted ingredients with coconut,jaggery and tamarind paste to a fine paste with a little water.

Keep aside the masala.

In a wok, heat a little oil ( 2 tbsp)

Add the mustard and hing.

When mustard splutters add the curry leaves.

Add chopped cabbage and potato.

Add turmeric powder.

Allow to cook.

When the potatoes are tender add the ground masala.

And the salt.

Simmer till the masala is absorbed.

Enjoy!

Cabbage-Peas-Carrot Curry

When you have to cook for just two, vegetables, any size, spill over to the next meal. And therefore the two cabbage recipes that follow were made to avoid the monotony of eating the same dish. The recipe here can add colour to any meal served. Almost like our Indian tricolour. And so simple to make.














Ingredients:
Cabbage - 1/2 medium - dice finely
Carrot - 2 nos - diced
Peas - 100 gms
Coconut - 1/4 grated
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Oil for seasoning
Black gram dal ( urad) - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Dry red chillies - 3 nos

Take a wok
Heat oil, add urad dal, mustard seeds, red chillies.
After the mustard splutters, add the diced vegetables and peas.
Saute.
Add sufficient water ( does not take too much) and salt.
Allow to cook.
When almost done,add the grated coconut
Simmer till the water evaporates.
Serve as a side dish with rice or rotis.

Sanna Polo

Cabbage recipe -2 . A konkani dish - serves 2

Ingredients -
Raw rice - 3/4 cup
Tuvar dal - 1/2 cup
Cabbage shredded - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 medium - finely chopped
Coconut - 1/4 cup grated
Red chilles - 2
Tamarind = 1/4 tsp paste or a small piece of tamarind
Hing ( asafoetida) - pinch - optional
Salt to taste
Oil for shallow frying

Soak the rice and dal for about 2-3 hours
Roast the dry red chillies in a little oil.
Grind to a coarse paste, the rice, dal, coconut and red chillies.
Add the shredded cabbage and diced onion and salt to the ground paste.

Heat a tawa.
Smear with oil
Take a sizeable amount of the paste and flatten on tawa ( 1/4" thickness)
Add oil and cook both sides till done.
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Serve hot.
The recipe brought back memories of childhood. Sourced the recipe here